Kim Bostwick describes the "wing sounds" in the Red-capped Manakin Bird's mating display.
To attract a mate, this colorful Central & South American bird of the Pipridae family shuffles backward and sideways along a twig in a way reminiscent of Michael Jackson moonwalking.
He also produces non-vocal sounds as a part of its mating display using its wings. One is made by the wings alone, another by brushing the tips of the primaries rapidly against its raised and spread tail, and a third by striking the surface of its wing against the side of the body and the thigh.
"The Club-winged Manakin is a surprising species of bird: males use special wing-feathers to produce a unique wing-sound to attract and court females. This video is part of a 13-part series of that explores 2 questions related to this: (1) how does the Club-winged Manakin sing with his wings?, and (2) how did this odd and very specialized thing evolve?
In Chapter 11 we compare the feathers, bones, and behaviors of the moonwalking Red-capped Manakin to those of the Club-winged Manakin looking for clues to when and how the odd traits of the Club-winged Manakin evolved.
The videos, originally produced in two parts, were produced by John Bowman and Tom Swarthout of the Multi-media team at Cornell's Lab of Ornithology, with animations produced by Brendan Holt, and photography and videography by National Geographic photographer Tim Laman. The project is the brainchild of Kim Bostwick, who tells these stories uncovered by her research. The research, the videos, and the website featuring them, "Singingwings.org," were funded by the National Science Foundation."
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